Concluding the first day of Trinity’s inaugural Arts and Humanities Research Festival, poet, pacifist and fabulist Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe read her new poem, ‘Incantation for the Hare’ which was inspired by Seamus Heaney’s ‘The Names of the Hare’, his translation of the Middle English poem ‘Les Noms De Un Levre En Englais.’

At the event ‘Writing Nature, Remembering Heaney’ on the 25th of September, also featuring award-winning Trinity writers Sean Hewitt and Yairen Jerez Columbié, Nidhi framed her reading of ‘Incantation for the Hare’ in the context of the animal’s symbolic role in indigenous cultures worldwide, including Ireland, where it is said to be the oldest surviving mammal.

The text of her poem was distributed among the audience in a special pamphlet edition, with artwork by Sarah Gillespie (Bridgeman Images) displayed on the cover.

Against the backdrop of the ecological crisis we are facing, Nidhi said her project Honey and the Hare has allowed her to return to shamanic and indigenous knowledge practices. “I want to thank Dr Peter Rooney for the generous and uninterrupted gift of time and space that this fellowship has provided.”